Matt Damon Breaks Silence on Harvey Weinstein: ‘I Am Not the Story Here. The Story is These Women’
Zack Sharf
Matt Damon has joined Ben Affleck in going on the record with remarks in regards to Harvey Weinstien’s history of alleged sexual harassment. The latest report from The New Yorker included 13 more women going the record against Weinstein. Three of the women, including actress Asia Argento, accused Weinstein of rape.
Damon’s name got thrown into the scandal after The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman accused him and Russell Crowe of helping to kill a story about the Weinstein scandal back in 2004 that The New York Times was working on. Waxman said that Fabrizio Lombardo, who ran Miramax’s Italian office, was helping bring women to Weinstein and that Damon and Crowe had called her to vouch in his defense after The New York Times was tipped to his actions.
Speaking exclusively to Deadline, Damon denied Waxman’s claims against him, saying, “If there was ever an event and Harvey was doing his…I would have stopped it.” Damon says Weinstein asked him to just tell Waxman about his experiences with Lombardo, who Damon knew from working on “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” “That was the extent of it and so I was very surprised to see it come back. I was never conscripted to do anything. We vouch for each other, all the time, and it didn’t even make her article.”
“I am not the story here,” Damon said. “The story is these women.”
Damon, who got his career jumpstarted thanks to Weinstein’s championing of “Good Will Hunting,” says he “felt absolutely sick to [his] stomach” over the accusations made against the former studio head. He cites his daughters as a constant reminder to him that this kind of behavior is unacceptable, no matter the industry of position of power.
“Even before I was famous, I didn’t abide this kind of behavior,” he said. “But now, as the father of four daughters, this is the kind of sexual predation that keeps me up at night. This is the great fear for all of us. We can all feel this change that’s happening, which is necessary and overdue. Men are a huge part of that change, and we have to be vigilant and we have to help protect and call this stuff out because we have our sisters and our daughters and our mothers. This kind of stuff can’t happen. This morning, I just feel absolutely sick to my stomach.”
Damon can next be seen in “Suburbicon,” in theaters October 27. His director, George Clooney, also went on the record with a statement against Weinstein.
